Steve Dale, nationally syndicated pet writer and radio host, recently interviewed Navy representative Tom La Puzza, on Animal Planet. Navy dolphin trainers use operant conditioning and positive reinforcement, exactly as clicker trainers do-with fish, patting, and social attention for rewards, and a whistle or other sounds for the clicks and cues. Steve Dale writes:
Exotic Animals
Creative Gorillas?
By KPCT on 07/01/2002The "creative" game, an application of operant conditioning, was first developed with dolphins at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. This procedure for teaching animals to invent new behaviors was reported in a study funded by the Office of Naval Research. (See "The creative porpoise: Training for novel behavior," Karen Pryor, Richard Haig, and Joseph O'Reilly, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 1969, 12:653-661.)
Training the Clicked Retrieve...with a Wild Pig!
By KPCT on 02/01/2002From Karen Hatch: After receiving Don't Shoot the Dog, I was itching to try clicker training—but failed in getting my cocker Anna to accept a clicker, even muffled. Seeing how I don't have another dog, you gave me an idea. I have *clicker voice trained* a Florida rooter to retrieve. (A Florida Rooter is a wild hog living off the land like all wild animals free ranging.)
